We are now 5 weeks on from Ironman 70.3 Mallorca where I sustained a grade 2 tear of my right calf which ultimately forced me to withdraw from the race. I posted my initial thoughts on the race, weekend and injury in my IRONMAN 70.3 MALLORCA 2019 RACE RECAP and now wanted to put down how things are progressing.

As soon as I felt it go when entering the sea in Mallorca, I knew deep down that it was a tear and likely resulting in weeks, more likely months out but I quickly assessed that I could probably still swim (low impact and little calf use) and ride the bike, albeit a little slower than planned (low impact again and little calf use). I knew running was out of the question and withdrew from the race after the bike leg.

During my first physio session, 3 days post-Mallorca, I explained what had happened and how I had done the swim and bike. I was told that this decision not to run was correct and most likely saved me from damaging the calf further which would have put me out for months.

At the time my calf was swollen to twice its usual size and no visible bruising. The physio said that he thought it was a tear, likely somewhere between a grade 1 and grade 2. What I was describing and what he could feel pointed to a grade 2 tear but the lack of bruising suggested it could be a grade 1.

If like me you don’t know the difference between grade 1, 2 etc a grade 1 muscle tear or strain as it is sometimes called is a tear of up to 5% of that specific muscle. A grade 2 tear is then a tear from 5% – 90% of the muscle and a grade 3 is a full tear requiring surgery to repair it.

Recovery times vary from person to person, but in general, a grade 1 is 4 – 6 weeks, grade 2 is 2 – 3 months and a grade 3 could be anything from 6 months or more.

So with me sitting somewhere between a grade 1 and grade 2 I could be looking at 4 weeks out or 3 months. We just couldn’t be sure with the amount of swelling.

The physio decided to apply some tape to the calf, lifting the skin which would then help the swelling dissipate.

Once the swelling went down, we could get a better picture of the damage.

Following the physio, I decided to withdraw, cancel or defer all of my events which involved running for the next 3 months. He did say that I was ok to continue with swimming and cycling just as long as I keep the bike power to a minimum and ride in the saddle and not to push off the wall when swimming, this was good news. That meant I could still do something.

Initially, I deferred the Brooklyn Half Marathon to 2020, had a refund for the Potters ‘arf half marathon, deferred all four race of the Tour of Tameside and deferred Ironman UK to 2020.

I had been due to fly to New York 6 days after returning from Mallorca, to race the Brooklyn Half Marathon and the GFNY World Championship. I knew Brooklyn was a no go but held out hope of riding in the GFNY race even at a slow pace. Come Friday when I was due to fly out, I decided that for the long term fitness and health it would be best not to ride the GFNY, this race was non-refundable, deferrable and no cancellation. Money lost in other words, same for my flights and hotel in New York.

After a chat with my wife, she said that I should just go to New York so it’s not a total loss of money and just pick up my race pack and jersey for GFNY to at least get something out of it. So I spent the WEEKEND IN NEW YORK basically sightseeing.

All that time on my feet, walking around New York took its toll. My calf hurt and I was hobbling around. The swelling did go down which brought out the bruising. All around my foot and very little on the calf, I guess the blood must have run down the leg and pooled in the foot.

After New York, I spent the rest of week 2 doing nothing. I opted to not swim or bike, even though the physio said it would be ok. I wanted to give the calf more rest and chance to heal faster without the stress of even low impact training.

Week 3, I brought back the swimming and biking and then some. This was my biggest ever week of swimming with 14,600yrds and 123 miles on the bike.

It was nice to be doing something and felt fine, no calf pain as a result. I followed instruction by not pushing off the wall, which felt terrible and so slow in the water. I kept the bike watts to below 200w and only cycled indoors on Zwift.

Week 4 was a family holiday in Menorca so no bike, I did get out and swim in the Med quite a bit. I had planned on swimming 4km each morning but strong winds had blown a lot of Jellyfish into the bay, after a few stings, I cut the swims short, but better than nothing right? Up until midway through this week my calf had felt fairly good but would occasionally give way when walking. From the Wednesday of this week, things seemed to quickly improve, that giving way stopped and any sign of pain or a niggle went.

That Saturday was the 4 week anniversary of the calf giving out. I had been told that I could potentially try a short, flat very steady run between 3 – 4 weeks. I wanted to run all week and just see what it felt like. Not running had been a struggle, after 3 years of constantly running and no major injuries, I was finding hard not running. I resisted that urge to get out and run to the very far end of the time when I was advised to try a run, 4 weeks, almost to the minute of when I started Ironman 70.3 Mallorca just 10 miles across the sea from where I was in Menorca.

I ran 1.3-miles.

The first 2 minutes, I could feel the calf and it didn’t feel great, even running at 9:45 pace it didn’t feel happy. I had just woken 10 mins before the run and gone straight out so I carried on, thinking that once I warm up I will get a better feel for it.

This turned out to be a good shout, after 2 mins that initial discomfort went and I was running pretty much pain-free. I increased the pace throughout the run to see how that felt, increase from 9:45 all the way down to 6:50 without any pain. I stopped after two laps of the harbor, I felt I could have continued and kept running but let’s not get carried away and push too hard too soon.

The day after that test run I still had no signs of pain, the run hadn’t made things worse. I was now back home and due to be swimming the Great North Swim in Lake Windermere. Water temp was 14’c and some shock after only doing open water swimming in the warm 20’c Mediterranean this year. After the 2-mile swim I stood up and the calf felt tight, it felt like it did when I got out of the sea in Mallorca. I knew it couldn’t have gone again, I would have felt that. Maybe it was the cold water and the calf not liking it. Let’s face it, I didn’t like the cold water either so who could blame it!

After 10 mins in the warm changing tent, the calf pain went away and returned to normal. It must have been the cold water contracting the muscle.

Week 5 I was back at work and after taking Monday & Tuesday off training due to catching a cold (in June!!) it was back to swimming and biking again. I did bring in some calf stretching, 30 secs per leg every morning, noon and night to increase flexibility and keep the new muscle fibers loose.

I had a physio followup on the Wednesday night, he was pleased with the progress and even more pleased with my cautious approach to training. The muscle feels like it has started to heal now. He was happy with the stretching, that was the right call at the right time. Everything looks to be going well and ahead of schedule.

I am now able to try a 2-mile flat run, which I did last night along the canal. No pain at all during or after that run. I can try a second 2-mile run at the weekend. Then if that goes okay, try a few more next week, if there is still no pain, try two consecutive days before increasing to 3-miles the following week. If its all good come mid-July, I can start training as normal and start to push pace and distance gradually.

All this is really good and positive news, I had hoped to start my New York City marathon run training from the 1st July, which I can now do, slow small runs to start with but with the bike training providing a great cardio base to build the running from I feel confident that I can get back to my previous running fitness and eventually the pace I was at.

Do I want to be running at my previous pace? no! the plan isn’t to get back and maintain what I was doing, I want to be pushing harder and faster.

This will be the last, well, only Injury Update post. From now on I will post a weekly New York City Marathon Training blog…. a sub 3 training blog.